Pub. 2 Issue 3

12 www.glancda.org First-Aid, CPR & AED: Regulation & Good Practice FIRST-AID KITS California and Federal regulations mandate that employers ensure ready availability of medical personnel for advice on matters of industrial health or injury. In response, most dealerships have contracted with a clinic for the treatment of injuries at the workplace, making them compliant. Cal/OSHA: Regulations mandate that a first-aid kit approved by a consulting physician be available on the premises for every work person on the job. A consulting physician is a medical doctor who is well versed with dealership operations and has knowledge of typical hazards and accidents on the job (Ref: T8CCR3400 (a) and (b)). Fed-OSHA: Regulations state that an employer must have “adequate first-aid supplies…readily available,” although specific first-aid supplies are not listed. There is no minimum requirement, but the statute does make a reference to ANSI Z308.1-2003 Minimum Requirements for Workplace First Aid Kits. Employers can safely adopt the ANSI standard or request their local occupational injury clinic to provide a list of items for the first-aid kit. We note that the regulation does not stipulate that the first-aid supplies be approved by a consulting physician. They should, however, be selected by a person competent in first-aid and knowledgeable of the hazards specific to that workplace (Ref: 29CFR1910.151(b)). Commentary: The dealership management should make a prudent decision as to the number and location of the first-aid kits. First, keep in mind that all areas of employment should have access. For example, if only the sales department is open on a Saturday, then a kit must be made available to employees in that area. Secondly, these kits are subject to pilferage and abuse. To avoid pilferage, the first-aid kit may be placed in the office or open view of the manager. Make sure that accessibility BY SA M CELLY, BCHE MCHE JD CERTIFIED SAFETY PROFESSIONAL  First-Aid — continued on page 14 Background: Dealers have recently been looking at providing Automatic External Defibrillators (AED) in their showrooms and debating whether to provide training to employees to render first-aid and CPR. In this newsletter, we discuss the regulatory requirements for first-aid kits, training for employees on first-aid & CPR, and AED.